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Book Chat: Science Fiction

By Elizabeth Parker


Looking back at the books I've reviewed previously, you would never know that my favorite form of fiction is Science Fiction. Science Fiction is the first section I check on trips to the bookstore, and was my first love in reading as a child. But unfortunately for this column's purposes, many of you are also Sci-Fi buffs, with the consequence that most of these books are already well-known in the community, as exemplified in the Gender Change Fiction List and the Science Fiction Gender Swapping List. The former is a very well-run web site, updated around once a quarter, and covers gender changes (exclusively) in books, movies, comics, games and television. The latter is a text document which exists on an ftp site. It contains references in all of the above media to gender transformations, including crossdressing, in spite of the name. However, it has not been updated since I first found it. Consequently, because of my desire to introduce new works of fiction into our community, I've had to ignore Science Fiction. Recently though, I've come across several new Science Fiction books.

Polymorph

"Polymorph", by Scott Westerfield, concerns a young woman named Lee, who has the ability to shange her shape into any other human being at will. This is a talent she developed and believes is unique. She uses it to go club-hopping in New York City, in a different identity each night, sometimes male, mostly female. Consequently she never becomes close to anyone. Soon she discovers that she is not unique in her ability when she encounters Bonito, an originally male polymorph who has nefarious designs on controlling this futuristic world. She first meets Bonito when he is Bonita, a striking Italian beauty. They flirt, then Lee recognizes Bonita as a fellow polymorph, due to subtle physical changes she observes. As they talk, it comes out that Bonito likes to "doppelgang" people. This surprises Lee, who has never realized this was a possibility for her. They have a very erotic sexual encounter, highlighted by strategic body transformations.

Later, Lee hooks up with Freddie, a previous conquest, to help her hack into computerized records to find Bonito. They become lovers again, and Freddie becomes the first person Lee has ever been close to. Of course, she eventually has to reveal her talent to Freddie, and he finds himself perversely attracted to the possibilities. He helps her find and fight Bonito. Along the way they have some very interesting and perverse sex, including Lee developing male parts.

One of the hallmarks of this book, is the intense sexuality. From Lee's friendly dominance of Freddie, to Bonito's impersonation of celebrities' wives, for gaining disguised sexual encounters, sex is an important tool in the plot and weapon in the hands of Bonito. Many of the themes are the same ones which we enjoy so much in our community's fiction.

Westerfield has a new book, Fine Prey, coming out in 1998.


The next book, "The Miracle Strain", by Michael Cordy, is not strictly a Science Fiction book. You can find it in the thriller section of your bookstore. However according to my definition it also falls into the Science Fiction genre. Taking place in the near future, it concerns a DNA research company and its owner, Dr. Tom Carter. He has just earned a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in mapping DNA and applying that knowledge in practical ways. As the book opens, his wife is gunned down by a fanatical assassin, Nemesis. Nemesis is a fervent Christian, who works for a 2,000-year old secret organization, The Brotherhood. This organization is committed to finding the new Messiah and killing those who blaspheme. Dr. Carter has become a target because his gene research is verging upon God's territory, much like the current day controversy over cloning humans (I never thought I'd say "cloning" and "current day" in the same breath!).

Nemesis is a young woman who was rescued from a life of sexual abuse in a convent, and trained by the Brotherhood to carry out their missions against the blasphemers of the world. As part of her preparation, she has had cosmetic surgery performed to make her more believable as a male. For most of her missions she disguises herself as a man, even spending some of her off hours as a male. But she is still able to revert to her woman's identity easily, doubling her disguise potential. Nemesis is quite offended by Dr. Carter's blasphemous activities and is particularly irked when she fails to kill him also, the first time she has ever failed.

This creates a problem when the Brotherhood decides to support Dr. Carter rather than kill him. In an effort to cure his daughter of a deadly disease, he is lead to develop a genetic treatment based upon Jesus' genes. For their own reasons, the Brotherhood decides this is a worthy goal. The efforts of Dr. Carter and his team to locate a valid sample of Jesus' DNA are quite interesting and thought provoking, especially as this technology is so close to that of our present day world's.

Now this book will primarily be of interest to those with FTM inclinations. However I found it to be quite an effective thriller, spiced up by Nemesis' disguises. The latter third of the book was somewhat unbelievable and makes use of too many ironic coincidences, but I still quite enjoyed the tale.


As a bonus, let me tell you about a fabulous short story I ran across in "Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex". It is "The Future Of Birds", by Mike O'Driscoll. It takes place in a future where women contract a disease similar to AIDS, sharply reducing their numbers. To take their place, rich patrons sponsor organizations which look for likely candidates for transsexual surgery. This story is about one of those candidates, Estela, a male prostitute from Brazil. As he struggles to make his living on the street, he discovers he can double his take by dressing as a girl. Naturally he falls into the company of other transvestite prostitutes, including Cledilce, his lover. Cledilce introduces him to a more upscale clientele, culminating in the organization which gives him his surgery and a second career as a performer/prostitute at a Berlin nightclub. Estela's feelings and life-style are discussed extensively. The story is quite lengthy, and written well.


If you have run across any good Science Fiction Books, just email me. If you ask, I'll add you to my list for notification of books which I find, but will not cover in this column. These are typically books with less of a transgender plot, sometimes just several paragraphs, but worth knowing about nevertheless.


Bibliography

Cordy, Michael, "The Miracle Strain", William Morrow & Company, September 1997, ISBN: 0688155081 (Hardback)

Datlow, Ellen, "Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex", St. Martins, February 1996, ISBN: 0312140193 (Hardback)

Datlow, Ellen, "Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex", Ace Books, April 1997, ISBN: 0441004369 (Paperback)

Westerfield, Scott, "Polymorph", Roc, December 1997, ISBN: 0-451-45660-2 (Paperback)



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